Labs for Static Electricity

Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs

We have a collection of ~150 labs in the Laboratory section of the website. Each lab was intended to be used with a lab notebook where students report their data and findings and state their conclusion with supporting evidence and reasoning. The intent was to provide a relatively clear purpose (or question) to students that they would need to address AND to limit the amount of directions. The hope is that the purposes and students' ability to design a procedure would drive the lab activity (in contrast to a detailed set of step-by-step procedures being the driving force of students' activity). As such, each of our labs comes with a Question and Purpose and a short paragraph describing what should be included in students' lab report. On occassion, students are also provided a graphic organizer, data table, or other item to be taped into their notebook. The following pages may be useful for those teachers who wish to adopt or simply trial our Labs with a Purpose approach:

Our Thoughts on the Approach || About Lab Notebooks || Teacher Guides for All Labs

Lab 1: The T-Tape and B-Tape

Question:
What is the type of charge on a "T-tape" and a "B-tape"?

Purpose:
To determine the type of charge acquired by a "T-tape" and a "B-tape."

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should include observations of the interaction between the two tapes with one another, with neutral paper bits, and with a negatively-charged PVC tube. The Conclusion/Discussion should make a claim regarding the type of charge on each of the two tapes and should describe the evidence and reasoning in support of the claims.

View: Teacher's Guide
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Lab 2: The Triboelectric Series

Question:
How do the variety of materials rank in terms of their relative affinity for electrons?

Purpose:
To use the charged "T-tape" and the "B-tape" to determine the charge type of various materials and to create a triboelectric series.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should include the provided table. The Conclusion/Discussion section should provide a ranking of the materials according to their relative affinity for electrons. Evidence for the ranking should be discussed. Any suspicious or inconsistent results should be discussed.

View: Teacher's Guide || Data Table

Lab 3: Conductors vs. Insulators

Question:
How is the behavior of conductors different than the behavior of insulators?

Purpose:
To contrast the behavior of conductors with the behavior of insulators.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should a record of observations of the T-Tape and B-Tape interactions of charged PVC tubes and an aluminum pie plates after rubbing with animal fur, after touching to a charge Van de Graaff generator. Furthermore, observations of how the charge distributes about a PVC tube and an aluminum pie plate (based on touching on one side and testing the interaction of the opposite side) should be recorded. The Conclusion/Discussion should contrast the two types of material and provide a discussion of the evidence that such contrasts are based on.

View: Teacher's Guide
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Lab 4: Charging by Induction

Question:
What type of charge is acquired by an aluminum pie plate when charged by induction with a positively- and a negatively-charged object?

Purpose:
To charge an aluminum pie tin by the method of induction and to explain how and from where the pie tin acquires its charge.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, a Conclusion and a Discussion of Results. The Data section should include a diagram which shows with sufficient detail the two methods which were used to charge the aluminum pie plate by induction. The tests used to identify the resulting charges are also represented in the diagram. The Conclusion answers the question posed in the Purpose of the lab. The Discussion of Results explains in words the evidence which supports the conclusions.

View: Teacher's Guide

Also Available ...

1. Task Tracker Subscription (annual purchase)
   A subscription allows teachers to set up classes, add students, customize online assignments, view student progress/scores, and export student scores. Task Tracker accounts allow your students to begin assignments in class or at school and to finish them at home. View our Seat and Cost Calculator for pricing details.
    
2. The Solutions Guide
   We publish a free curriculum with >200 ready-to-use Think Sheets for developing physics concepts. The Solutions Guide is a download containing the source documents, PDFs of source documents, and answers/solutions in MS Word and PDF format. An expanded license agreement is included with the purchase. (Cost: $25 download)
    
3. Teacher Presentation Pack
   This is a large collection of downloadable content packed with nearly 190 Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks, the corresponding Lesson Notes (as PDF and fully-modifiable MS Word format), about 170 animations (in .gif, .png, and .mp4 file formats), a countless number of ready-to-use images (including the original source documents that would allow for easy modification of those images), and a license that allows teachers to modify and use all the content with their classes on password-protected sites (such as course management systems).  (Cost: $40 download)
    
4. Question Bank
   We distribute a Question Bank that includes more than 9300 questions neatly organized according to topic. The Question Bank is the perfect tool for busy teachers or new teachers. Even if you don't use the website with your classes, the Question Bank will assist you in quickly putting together quizzes, tests and other documents with high-quality questions that target student's conceptions of physics principles. And if you do use The Physics Classroom website, the Question Bank is the perfect complement to the materials found at the website. (Cost: $25 download)